The Heat’s next fixture against Bay of Plenty on Sunday 4
September will be televised on Sky Sport. The match will be played at the
Tauranga Domain as a Mitre 10 Cup curtain raiser. Kick-off is at 12:05pm.

Counties Manukau B’s Black came away with a 22-16 victory
over Waikato B in their match at Massey Park, Papakura.

The B’s Black loose forwards and wingers produced
outstanding performances, which helped them commence their representative
campaign.

Waikato B had the better of the first quarter, dominating
possession and field position and scoring a try early in the game. Once
Counties achieved field possession, strong go forward and ball retention over a
number of phases resulted in Sione Fifita scoring a try in the corner.

Waikato kicked a penalty 10 minutes later, making the score
8-5. Alamanda Motuga was the next to score for Counties and that try set them
up with a 10-8 half time lead.

The start of the second spell was a bit of an arm wrestle,
but eventually Counties broke away with a moment of excellence from winger
Tevita Nabura. He beat two defenders to score a brilliant individual try and
extend the lead to 15-8. Counties were awarded a penalty and loose forward Josh
Dowsing saw an opportunity for a quick tap and he dived over the try line
taking the score to 22-8.

Waikato hit back with a try, but it wasn’t enough and
Counties B Black took the victory. Players noted for their performances were
Josh Dowsing, Alamanda Motuga, Matt Vaai, Sione Fifita and Tevita Nabura.

The Counties Manukau B’s Red side had a narrow 29-25 loss to
Auckland Colts. Counties opened the scoring with a penalty after five minutes
to Kalione Hala. 15 minutes into the first half Auckland scored their first
try, breaking through the midfield and from the breakdown scoring in the left
hand corner to make the score 5-3.

Auckland then extended their lead with a penalty kick and a
second try to make it 13-3. Counties hit back with a try to Kalione Hala, which
saw him pick up the ball from loose play and score. He converted his own try
and closed the gap to 13-10 at half time.

Auckland scored from the restart to make it 18-10. But
Counties B’s Red then replied with their best try of the game. It was created
from good lead up work by the forwards on the left hand side and the ball then
got put to the backs, with Hala scoring his second try of the game. After some
good scrummaging, No. 8 Lepetimalo Lauese broke off the back of the scrum to
score, which gave Counties the lead 20-18. Auckland then responded with a
penalty and a try down the left hand touch to make it 26-20 to Auckland.

Nathan de Thierry scored next to the posts with two minutes
left to go, but unfortunately the conversion was missed and Auckland then
kicked a penalty on fulltime to take the victory.